diff --git a/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb b/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
index f2b97ac6b5d03995fd00216d699e693ec6b882d5..a7b10d7c671f7459808701bd0e49808befe6b394 100644
--- a/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/profiles_controller.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class ProfilesController < ApplicationController
         extra_tag.strip!
         unless extra_tag == ""
           extra_tag = "##{extra_tag}" unless extra_tag.start_with?( "#" )
-          params[:tags] += ",##{extra_tag}"
+          params[:tags] += " #{extra_tag}"
         end
       end
     end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb
index 4d760e3f8ea78ce5df609e02d3ddc8f83b972ccf..4f40af60c03261cbc9f748c1ad2b81a81a22c21f 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb
@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ describe ProfilesController do
       @user.person(true).profile.tag_list.to_set.should == ['apples', 'oranges', 'pears'].to_set
     end
 
+    it 'sets plaintext tags without #' do
+      params = { :id => @user.person.id,
+                 :tags => ',#apples,#oranges,',
+                 :profile => {:tag_string => 'bananas'} }
+      
+      put :update, params
+      @user.person(true).profile.tag_list.to_set.should == ['apples', 'oranges', 'bananas'].to_set
+    end
+
     context 'with a profile photo set' do
       before do
         @params = { :id => @user.person.id,